Dressing and NWSS

It's 1 in the afternoon, it's 25 degrees outside, and I've just finished walking Tessa, Lucy, and Rosie and Remy. Ooch is sitting in my lap in the sunshine pouring in through the office window. We're quite cozy at the moment. Supposedly, the temperature is to reach above freezing today... I don't know if it actually will or not. These last three days I've worn regular underwear, long underwear, and a pair of heavy-weight denim jeans that have two layers of flannel sewn inside them; two pairs of woolen socks and my snow boots with Yak Trax on them; a cotton T-shirt covered by a polar fleece turtleneck; my down coat with thinsulate lining, gloves, a hat, and a scarf to cover my chin, nose and mouth. And I thought I had the "layered look" down pat when I lived in Florida and then Virginia!
I'm having a hard time deciding which day I want to go to the National Western Stock Show - if I could, I'd actually go every day. Do I want to see the Rodeo? Do I want to see working ranch horses show off their skills? What about hunter and jumpers? And what about the gentle giants - the draft horses and mules? Goats? Llamas? Chickens? Pigs? Any and all types of cattle? Working dogs? Grand Prix Jumping? - There is just so much to choose from and so little time to enjoy all of it! And, of course, I'm not even mentioning the merchandise booths or the informational booths. (May I quietly scream in frustration?)
Lovey and Nedi both raced outside this morning, then just as hurriedly raced back inside. It was 4 degrees out there, and the snow hasn't even begun to melt in yards. Most major roads are clear, between applications of sand and magnesium chloride and the snow plows. Sidewalks get shoveled every morning, but the snow melts and freezes around the edges of the sidewalk and roads, causing hazardous footing. Most of the roads where I walk the dogs are just plain ice-packed - there is snow crushed down to ice by the vehicles traveling through, and sometimes it's like walking through, or on top of, snow; at other times, you're suddenly in an ice rink. It certainly makes life interesting!

National Western Stock Show Visit

I left the house early this morning and took the Express bus into Denver, switched to the free Mall bus at Water Street, and then hopped on # 48 to be dropped off at the Coliseum. For the cost of $1.25, I was delivered to the front door of the Stock Show... and it was marvelous! I've just returned home and have only taken time to give the kits a shrimp and salmon treat and power up the computer. The general admission for the NWSS was $7.00 today; it was for two levels at the Coliseum, 4 levels in the center, and two levels in the Arena. Other than the fact that it was a school field trip day for 15 elementary schools, it was absolutely spectacular!

I got to see poultry and rabbits, cattle and horses, llamas and alpacas. The piggies come in Sunday night... I got to pet everything, and also ran into a horse and westerns-oriented old book shop. I have to admit I purchased three books. I also picked up all kinds of literature and brochures, a NWSS T-shirt, several free horse magazines, and I won a stuffed cow (maybe because I'm a stuffed cow?)... They had a timed contest where an English bridle and saddle were taken apart and the contestants had to put the equipment back together correctly and put it on a horse. I had an old buckskin gelding, who was the easiest guy I've ever bridled. Anyway, I had the fastest time out of 25 people, so I won a stuffed cow. I had my photo taken outside the stalls of an 8-horse hitch of Shires and with a 2-year-old Longhorn steer named Star Eclipse.

There were all sorts of booths with merchandise and arts and crafts, furniture, farm machinery, books, candies, popcorn, nuts, funnel cakes, food, even several of those "Infomercial" items with an announcer with a mike and a nice little seating area so you could be sold something... There was information available about all the different breeds of all the different critters that were in attendance. The hunter-jumper section of the horse show was scheduled for today, and I saw several amateur-owner hunter classes, as well as children's jumper classes. The jumper class had one spooky jump - a red brick jump with open arches in both the standards and under the top rail, and it was at the opposite end from the "in" gate - and a lot (about 75%) of the riders either had one refusal or were unseated during a refusal at that one fence. - More tomorrow!!

Boulder's Mountain Lions

We received about 6 inches of snow yesterday; by 10:30 in the morning it had stopped snowing and the sun was shining. It was beautiful. Right now, it's 12 degrees outside and it's mostly sunny. I've been out walking, but will be going out again to exercise the Irish kids. There are no visiting critters outside, and both kits are in; Lovey and Banichi ran out this morning and came back in complaining about the snow... I apologized and told them that I had no control over it and to think about summertime. Banichi is curled up in the sun on the top of the cat tree and Lovey is sitting between my arms, in front of the keyboard, "helping" me type.

Boulder's mountain lion controversy is stirring up again. A couple of weeks ago, a home-owner in North Boulder let their terrier out after dark. When the dog didn't want back in quickly, the owner called for the dog without any response. The owner went out with a flashlight, and in the alley behind the house, caught a mountain lion - with the dog in it's mouth - within the light. The dog was obviously dead. The lion jumped the 6-foot fence and left with its prey. Boulder re-issued it's warning about mountain lions - that we are living in their territory; go out with a light; make lots of noise; don't let small pets outside by themselves. As usual, people are getting very upset about their "rights", the "rights" of their pets, and the "rights" of local wildlife.
Me - I love all animals; domesticated, feral, wild. I feel very sorry for the family that lost their dog to the mountain lion. But I'm also irritated and angry with them. Just because one lives within the city limits, one cannot expect wild animals to respect unseen lines on a map. The wild things have been here much longer than we have, we keep pushing into their territory, and we can't expect them to keep moving away from old hunting grounds. These people have lived in Boulder for over 10 years - they have heard all the stories about coyotes, fox, mountain lions and bears. But they felt "safe" and ignored ordinary safety precautions. So now they blame the wild animals for being wild animals. Somehow, that doesn't make sense to me.

The local news has been covering the National Western Stock Show each morning. I think I'm going to have to visit Denver this Friday as well as next Friday to go to the event. Today is "Western Dress" day in Denver and there will be a parade of horses, wagons, stagecoaches, riders, floats, and long-horn steers beginning at noon on 17th Street. I'd love to go, but won't be able to make it down there in time after walking Rosie and Remy. I think I need a big dose of farm animals to get my "animal equilibrium" back - I definitely see and get and give love from plenty of cats and dogs at this time, but I miss the big critters.